Today, I started yet another major project around “my holler in Kentucky” — getting my travel trailer cleared out and ready to relocate to the “back 40”, where I’m going to turn it into my “writer’s retreat”. While going through some of the “stuff” that has been stashed in it through the years, I found a wooden plaque that featured what appears to be an island sunset and some “words of wisdom” in the form of a poem called “Don’t Quit”. Because of the timeliness of this poem, I’m going to transcribe it here, so I’ll have easy access to it on the days when I find myself in need of encouragement. Without further ado, here are the “words of wisdom” that I found on a plaque in my travel trailer:
DON’T QUIT
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
*******
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow.
You may succeed with another blow.
*******
Success is failure turned inside out.
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit.
It’s when things seem worst
That you must not quit.”
Unfortunately, I’m not able to give proper credit to the author of this poem because there was no name beneath it.
However, I hope this poem — and its “words of wisdom” — gives each of us the encouragement we need to keep going with whatever major project we happen to be dealing with at the time, which, for me, is going through boxes and boxes of “stuff” that as accumulated through the years! Wish me luck in this endeavor. I’m certainly going to need it as I navigate my way uphill through the mountain of boxes in my travel trailer now!